Vince Lombardi, the iconic coach of the Green Bay Packers, was responsible for a number of now-famous quotes during his career, but maybe none as famous as this one:

“Confidence is contagious.

So is lack of confidence.”

This mantra for mental attitude (which I first heard from an old coach of mine as a teenager) is being proven on a daily basis in our country today, and I maintain that if it’s not reversed quickly, it will have far-ranging effects on our national psyche.

Lombardi’s aphorism applies directly to our economy, as I believe we are suffering from a national Lack of Confidence. We’ve been enduring a moribund economy for so long now, many of us have forgotten what a good one actually looks like. The reasons for our economic doldrums are complex and varied: current tax policy, the Fed’s monetary policy, “Green Energy“,